Information management in a decentralized database including a fast path service

ABSTRACT

An example operation may include one or more of determining data at a first node satisfies a condition, obtaining a pointer to a shared storage area for the data, controlling generation of a block including the pointer, and appending the block to a blockchain without the data, wherein the first node corresponds to first virtual node hosted by blockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider and wherein the first virtual node receives the data from a network coupled to the Baas provider.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application generally relates to a database storage system, andmore particularly, to information management in a decentralized databaseincluding a fast path service.

BACKGROUND

A centralized database stores and maintains data in one single database(e.g., database server) at one location. This location is often acentral computer, for example, a desktop central processing unit (CPU),a server CPU, or a mainframe computer. Information stored on acentralized database is typically accessible from multiple differentpoints. Multiple users or client workstations can work simultaneously onthe centralized database, for example, based on a client/serverconfiguration. A centralized database is easy to manage, maintain, andcontrol, especially for purposes of security because of its singlelocation. Within a centralized database, data redundancy is minimized asa single storing place of all data also implies that a given set of dataonly has one primary record.

However, a centralized database suffers from significant drawbacks. Forexample, a centralized database needs to be operated by a universallytrusted entity. Furthermore, a centralized database has a single pointof failure. In particular, if there are no fault-toleranceconsiderations and a hardware failure occurs (for example a hardware,firmware, and/or a software failure), all data within the database islost and work of all users is interrupted. In addition, centralizeddatabases are highly dependent on network connectivity. As a result, theslower the connection, the amount of time needed for each databaseaccess is increased. Another drawback is the occurrence of bottleneckswhen a centralized database experiences high traffic due to a singlelocation. Furthermore, a centralized database provides limited access todata because only one copy of the data is maintained by the database. Asa result, multiple devices cannot access the same data at the same timewithout creating significant problems or risk overwriting stored data.Also, because a database storage system has minimal to no dataredundancy, data that is unexpectedly lost is very difficult to retrieveother than through manual operation from back-up storage.

SUMMARY

One example embodiment provides a system that includes ablockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider and a first virtual node hostedby the Baas provider. The Baas provider includes a manager to determinethat data at the first virtual node satisfies a condition, obtain apointer to a shared storage area that is to store the data, controlgeneration of a block including the pointer, and append the block to ablockchain without the data. The condition may be whether the dataexceeds a predetermined size. The first virtual node includes blockchainsoftware which receives the data from a blockchain application in thesame node or external to the Baas provider. A second virtual node mayreceive the pointer for purposes of accessing the data at the sharedfile location. The second virtual node may receive the pointer, forexample, by querying the blockchain for the block storing the pointer orbased on information transmitted internal to the Baas provider.

Another example embodiment provides a method that includes one or moreof determining data at a first node satisfies a condition, obtaining apointer to a shared storage area for the data, controlling generation ofa block including the pointer, and appending the block to a blockchainwithout the data. The first node corresponds to first virtual nodehosted by blockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider, and the first virtualnode receives the data from a network coupled to the Baas provider. Thecondition may be whether the data exceeds a predetermined size. Thefirst virtual node includes blockchain software which receives the datafrom a blockchain application in the same node or external to the Baasprovider. A second virtual node may receive the pointer for purposes ofaccessing the data at the shared file location. The second virtual nodemay receive the pointer, for example, by querying the blockchain for theblock storing the pointer or based on information transmitted internalto the Baas provider.

A further example embodiment provides a non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising instructions a non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising instructions, that when read by a manager of ablockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider, cause the manager to performone or more of determine that data received by a first virtual nodehosted by the Baas provider satisfies a condition, obtain a pointer to ashared storage area that is to store the data, control generation of ablock including the pointer, and append the block to a blockchainwithout the data.

A further example embodiment provides a system including a first virtualnode, a second virtual node, and a manager to control transmission ofinformation between the first virtual node and the second virtual node.The first and second virtual nodes are hosted by ablockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider. The information is transmittedalong an internal signal path of the Baas provider and corresponds to ablock in a blockchain that includes an entry for the first and secondvirtual nodes. The Baas provider may include a first server and a secondserver, where the first server manages the first virtual node and thesecond server manages the second virtual node.

A further example embodiment provides a method that includes one or moreof hosting a first virtual node in a blockchain-as-a-service (Baas)provider, hosting a second virtual node in the Baas provider, andcontrolling transmission of information between the first virtual nodeand the second virtual node along an internal signal path of the Baasprovider. The information corresponds to a block in a blockchain thatincludes an entry for the first and second virtual nodes. The Baasprovider may include a first server and a second server, where the firstserver manages the first virtual node and the second server manages thesecond virtual node.

A further example embodiment provides a non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising instructions, that when read by logic of aBlockchain-as-service (Baas) provider, causes the logic to perform oneor more of host a first virtual node in the Baas provider, host a secondvirtual node in the Baas provider, and control transmission ofinformation between the first virtual node and the second virtual nodeon an internal signal path of the Baas provider, wherein the informationcorresponds to a block in a blockchain that includes an entry for thefirst and second virtual nodes. The Baas provider may include a firstserver and a second server, where the first server manages the firstvirtual node and the second server manages the second virtual node.

A further example embodiment provides a system including a first queue,a second queue, and a manager of a blockchain-as-a-service (Baas)provider. The manager controls placement of an entry into a first queuewhen a first set of policies is satisfied and controls placement of theentry into a second queue when the first set of policies is notsatisfied. The first queue stores confirmed entries to be submitted forconsensus without validation and the second queue stores pending entriesthat require validation before consensus.

A further example embodiment provides a method that includes one or moreof receiving an entry at a blockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider,determining whether the entry satisfies a first set of policies, andcontrolling placement of the entry into a first queue when the first setof policies is satisfied and into a second queue when the first set ofpolicies is not satisfied. The first queue stores confirmed entries tobe submitted for consensus without validation and the second queuestores pending entries that require validation before consensus.

A further example embodiment provides a non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising instructions, that when read by a manager of ablockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provider, cause the manager to performone or more of receive an entry, determine whether the entry satisfies afirst set of policies, control placement of the entry into a first queuewhen the first set of policies is satisfied and into a second queue whenthe first set of policies is not satisfied. The first queue storesconfirmed entries to be submitted for consensus without validation andthe second queue stores pending entries that require validation beforeconsensus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a blockchain architectureconfiguration.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a transactional flow between nodesof a blockchain.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a permissioned blockchain network.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of messaging in the blockchain network.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a system for performing operationsin a blockchain.

FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of a system to perform operationsin a blockchain.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a Smart Contract configuration for ablockchain.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of an application programming interface(API) gateway for accessing a blockchain and/or associated elements.

FIG. 9A illustrates an embodiment of a process to add a new block to adistributed ledger of a blockchain, and FIG. 9B illustrates an exampleof a block structure for the blockchain.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a computing node.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a blockchain network.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a process to add a new block to ablockchain.

FIG. 13 illustrates a blockchain-as-a-service (Baas) embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates a Baas provider which includes a fast path service.

FIG. 15 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 18 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 19 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 20 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 21 illustrates a fast path service according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be readily understood that the instant components, as generallydescribed and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments of at least one of amethod, apparatus, non-transitory computer readable medium and system,as represented in the attached figures, is not intended to limit thescope of the application as claimed but is merely representative ofselected embodiments.

The instant features, structures, or characteristics as describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “exampleembodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language, throughoutthis specification refers to the fact that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentmay be included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of thephrases “example embodiments”, “in some embodiments”, “in otherembodiments”, or other similar language, throughout this specificationdo not necessarily all refer to the same group of embodiments, and thedescribed features, structures, or characteristics may be combined inany suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” may have been used in thedescription of embodiments, the application may be applied to many typesof network data, such as, packet, frame, datagram, etc. The term“message” also includes packet, frame, datagram, and any equivalentsthereof. Furthermore, while certain types of messages and signaling maybe depicted in exemplary embodiments they are not limited to a certaintype of message, and the application is not limited to a certain type ofsignaling.

A decentralized database is a distributed storage system which includesmultiple nodes that communicate with each other. A blockchain is anexample of a decentralized database which includes an append-onlyimmutable data structure resembling a distributed ledger capable ofmaintaining records between mutually untrusted parties. The untrustedparties are referred to herein as peers or peer nodes. Each peermaintains a copy of the database records and no single peer can modifythe database records without a consensus being reached among thedistributed peers. For example, the peers may execute a consensusprotocol to validate blockchain storage transactions, group the storagetransactions into blocks, and build a hash chain over the blocks. Thisprocess forms the ledger by ordering the storage transactions, as isnecessary, for consistency. In a public or permission-less blockchain,anyone can participate without a specific identity. Public blockchainsoften involve native cryptocurrency and use consensus based on variousprotocols such as Proof of Work (PoW). On the other hand, a permissionedblockchain database provides a system which can secure inter-actionsamong a group of entities which share a common goal but which do notfully trust one another, such as businesses that exchange funds, goods,information, and the like.

A blockchain operates arbitrary, programmable logic, tailored to adecentralized storage scheme and referred to as “smart contracts” or“chaincodes.” In some cases, specialized chaincodes may exist formanagement functions and parameters which are referred to as systemchaincode. Smart contracts are trusted distributed applications whichleverage tamper-proof properties of the blockchain database and anunderlying agreement between nodes which is referred to as anendorsement or endorsement policy. In general, blockchain transactionstypically must be “endorsed” before being committed to the blockchainwhile transactions which are not endorsed are disregarded. A typicalendorsement policy allows chaincode to specify endorsers for atransaction in the form of a set of peer nodes that are for endorsement.When a client sends the transaction to the peers specified in theendorsement policy, the transaction is executed to validate thetransaction. After validation, the transactions enter an ordering phasein which a consensus protocol is used to produce an ordered sequence ofendorsed transactions grouped into blocks.

Nodes are the communication entities of the blockchain system. A “node”may perform a logical function in the sense that multiple nodes ofdifferent types can run on the same physical server. Nodes are groupedin trust domains and are associated with logical entities that controlthem in various ways. Nodes may include different types, such as aclient or submitting-client node which submits a transaction-invocationto an endorser (e.g., peer), and broadcasts transaction-proposals to anordering service (e.g., ordering node). Another type of node is a peernode which can receive client submitted transactions, commit thetransactions and maintain a state and a copy of the ledger of blockchaintransactions. Peers can also have the role of an endorser, although itis not a requirement. An ordering-service-node or orderer is a noderunning the communication service for all nodes, and which implements adelivery guarantee, such as a broadcast to each of the peer nodes in thesystem when committing transactions and modifying a world state of theblockchain, which is another name for the initial blockchain transactionwhich normally includes control and setup information.

A ledger is a sequenced, tamper-resistant record of all statetransitions of a blockchain. State transitions may result from chaincodeinvocations (i.e., transactions) submitted by participating parties(e.g., client nodes, ordering nodes, endorser nodes, peer nodes, etc.).A transaction may result in a set of asset key-value pairs beingcommitted to the ledger as one or more operands, such as creates,updates, deletes, and the like. The ledger includes a blockchain (alsoreferred to as a chain) which is used to store an immutable, sequencedrecord in blocks. The ledger also includes a state database whichmaintains a current state of the blockchain. There is typically oneledger per channel. Each peer node maintains a copy of the ledger foreach channel of which they are a member.

A chain is a transaction log which is structured as hash-linked blocks,and each block contains a sequence of N transactions where N is equal toor greater than one. The block header includes a hash of the block'stransactions, as well as a hash of the prior block's header. In thisway, all transactions on the ledger may be sequenced andcryptographically linked together. Accordingly, it is not possible totamper with the ledger data without breaking the hash links. A hash of amost recently added blockchain block represents every transaction on thechain that has come before it, making it possible to ensure that allpeer nodes are in a consistent and trusted state. The chain may bestored on a peer node file system (i.e., local, attached storage, cloud,etc.), efficiently supporting the append-only nature of the blockchainworkload.

The current state of the immutable ledger represents the latest valuesfor all keys that are included in the chain transaction log. Because thecurrent state represents the latest key values known to a channel, it issometimes referred to as a world state. Chaincode invocations executetransactions against the current state data of the ledger. To make thesechaincode interactions efficient, the latest values of the keys may bestored in a state database. The state database may be simply an indexedview into the chain's transaction log, it can therefore be regeneratedfrom the chain at any time. The state database may automatically berecovered (or generated if needed) upon peer node startup, and beforetransactions are accepted.

Blockchain is different from a traditional database in that blockchainis not a central storage but rather a decentralized, immutable, andsecure storage, where nodes must share in changes to records in thestorage. Some properties that are inherent in blockchain and which helpimplement the blockchain include, but are not limited to, an immutableledger, smart contracts, security, privacy, decentralization, consensus,endorsement, accessibility, and the like, which are further describedherein

FIG. 1 illustrates a blockchain architecture configuration 100,according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1, the blockchainarchitecture 100 may include certain blockchain elements, for example, agroup of blockchain nodes 102. The blockchain nodes 102 may include oneor more nodes 104-110 (these four nodes are depicted by example only).These nodes participate in a number of activities, such as blockchaintransaction addition and validation process (consensus). One or more ofthe blockchain nodes 104-110 may endorse transactions based onendorsement policy and may provide an ordering service for allblockchain nodes in the architecture 100. A blockchain node may initiatea blockchain authentication and seek to write to a blockchain immutableledger stored in blockchain layer 116, a copy of which may also bestored on the underpinning physical infrastructure 114. The blockchainconfiguration may include one or more applications 124 which are linkedto application programming interfaces (APIs) 122 to access and executestored program/application code 120 (e.g., chaincode, smart contracts,etc.) which can be created according to a customized configurationsought by participants and can maintain their own state, control theirown assets, and receive external information. This can be deployed as atransaction and installed, via appending to the distributed ledger, onall blockchain nodes 104-110.

The blockchain base or platform 112 may include various layers ofblockchain data, services (e.g., cryptographic trust services, virtualexecution environment, etc.), and underpinning physical computerinfrastructure that may be used to receive and store new transactionsand provide access to auditors which are seeking to access data entries.The blockchain layer 116 may expose an interface that provides access tothe virtual execution environment to process the program code and engagethe physical infrastructure 114. Cryptographic trust services 118 may beused to verify transactions such as asset exchange transactions and keepinformation private.

The blockchain architecture configuration of FIG. 1 may process andexecute program/application code 120 via one or more interfaces exposed,and services provided, by blockchain platform 112. The code 120 maycontrol blockchain assets. For example, the code 120 can store andtransfer data, and may be executed by nodes 104-110 in the form of asmart contract and associated chaincode with conditions or other codeelements subject to its execution. As a non-limiting example, smartcontracts may be created to execute reminders, updates, and/or othernotifications subject to the changes, updates, etc. The smart contractscan themselves be used to identify rules associated with authorizationand access requirements and usage of the ledger. For example, theinformation 126 may include data, metadata, key information, messages,events, or other information that may be processed by one or moreprocessing entities (e.g., virtual machines) included in the blockchainlayer 116. The result 128 may include access, querying, adding one ormore new blocks to the blockchain, and then updating and outputting theblockchain ledger to the nodes. The physical infrastructure 114 may beutilized to retrieve any of the data or information described herein.

Within chaincode, a smart contract may be created via a high-levelapplication and programming language, and then written to a block in theblockchain. The smart contract may include executable code which isregistered, stored, and/or replicated with a blockchain (e.g.,distributed network of blockchain peers). A transaction is an executionof the smart contract code which can be performed in response toconditions associated with the smart contract being satisfied. Theexecuting of the smart contract may trigger a trusted modification(s) toa state of a digital blockchain ledger. The modification(s) to theblockchain ledger caused by the smart contract execution may beautomatically replicated throughout the distributed network ofblockchain peers through one or more consensus protocols.

The smart contract may write data to the blockchain in the format ofkey-value pairs. Furthermore, the smart contract code can read thevalues stored in a blockchain and use them in application operations.The smart contract code can write the output of various logic operationsinto the blockchain. The code may be used to create a temporary datastructure in a virtual machine or other computing platform. Data writtento the blockchain can be public and/or can be encrypted and maintainedas private. The temporary data that is used/generated by the smartcontract is held in memory by the supplied execution environment, thendeleted once the data needed for the blockchain is identified.

A chaincode may include the code interpretation of a smart contract,with additional features. As described herein, the chaincode may beprogram code deployed on a computing network, where it is executed andvalidated by chain validators together during a consensus process. Thechaincode receives a hash and retrieves from the blockchain a hashassociated with the data template created by use of a previously storedfeature extractor. If the hashes of the hash identifier and the hashcreated from the stored identifier template data match, then thechaincode sends an authorization key to the requested service. Thechaincode may write to the blockchain data associated with thecryptographic details.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a transactional flow 250 between nodesof the blockchain in accordance with an example embodiment. Referring toFIG. 2, the transaction flow may include a transaction proposal 291 sentby an application client node 260 to an endorsing peer node 281. Theendorsing peer 281 may verify the client signature and execute achaincode function to initiate the transaction. The output may includethe chaincode results, a set of key/value versions that were read in thechaincode (read set), and the set of keys/values that were written inchaincode (write set). The proposal response 292 is sent back to theclient 260 along with an endorsement signature, if approved. The client260 assembles the endorsements into a transaction payload 293 andbroadcasts it to an ordering service node 284. The ordering service node284 then delivers ordered transactions as blocks to all peers 281-283 ona channel. Before committal to the blockchain, each peer 281-283 mayvalidate the transaction. For example, the peers may check theendorsement policy to ensure that the correct allotment of the specifiedpeers have signed the results and authenticated the signatures againstthe transaction payload 293.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the client node 260 initiates the transaction291 by constructing and sending a request to the peer node 281, which isan endorser. The client 260 may include an application leveraging asupported software development kit (SDK), such as NODE, JAVA, PYTHON,and the like, which utilizes an available API to generate a transactionproposal. The proposal is a request to invoke a chaincode function sothat data can be read and/or written to the ledger (i.e., write new keyvalue pairs for the assets). The SDK may serve as a shim to package thetransaction proposal into a properly architected format (e.g., protocolbuffer over a remote procedure call (RPC)) and take the client'scryptographic credentials to produce a unique signature for thetransaction proposal.

In response, the endorsing peer node 281 may verify (a) that thetransaction proposal is well formed, (b) the transaction has not beensubmitted already in the past (replay-attack protection), (c) thesignature is valid, and (d) that the submitter (client 260, in theexample) is properly authorized to perform the proposed operation onthat channel. The endorsing peer node 281 may take the transactionproposal inputs as arguments to the invoked chaincode function. Thechaincode is then executed against a current state database to producetransaction results including a response value, read set, and write set.However, no updates are made to the ledger at this point. In 292, theset of values, along with the endorsing peer node's 281 signature ispassed back as a proposal response 292 to the SDK of the client 260which parses the payload for the application to consume.

In response, the application of the client 260 inspects/verifies thesignatures of the endorsing peers and compares the proposal responses todetermine if the proposal response is the same. If the chaincode onlyqueried the ledger, the application would inspect the query response andwould typically not submit the transaction to the ordering node service284. If the client application intends to submit the transaction to theordering node service 284 to update the ledger, the applicationdetermines if the specified endorsement policy has been fulfilled beforesubmitting (e.g., did all peer nodes necessary for the transactionendorse the transaction). Here, the client may include only one ofmultiple parties to the transaction. In this case, each client may havetheir own endorsing node, and each endorsing node will need to endorsethe transaction. The architecture is such that even if an applicationselects not to inspect responses or otherwise forwards an unendorsedtransaction, the endorsement policy will still be enforced by peers andupheld at the commit validation phase.

After successful inspection, in step 293 the client 260 assemblesendorsements into a transaction and broadcasts the transaction proposaland response within a transaction message to the ordering node 284. Thetransaction may contain the read/write sets, the endorsing peerssignatures and a channel ID. The ordering node 284 does not need toinspect the entire content of a transaction in order to perform itsoperation, instead the ordering node 284 may simply receive transactionsfrom all channels in the network, order them chronologically by channel,and create blocks of transactions per channel.

The blocks of the transaction are delivered from the ordering node 284to all peer nodes 281-283 on the channel. The transactions 294 withinthe block are validated to ensure any endorsement policy is fulfilledand to ensure that there have been no changes to ledger state for readset variables since the read set was generated by the transactionexecution. Transactions in the block are tagged as being valid orinvalid. Furthermore, in step 295 each peer node 281-283 appends theblock to the channel's chain, and for each valid transaction the writesets are committed to current state database. An event is emitted, tonotify the client application that the transaction (invocation) has beenimmutably appended to the chain, as well as to notify whether thetransaction was validated or invalidated.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a permissioned blockchain network 300,which features a distributed, decentralized peer-to-peer architecture,and a certificate authority 318 managing user roles and permissions. Inthis example, the blockchain user 302 may submit a transaction to thepermissioned blockchain network 310. In this example, the transactioncan be a deploy, invoke, or query, and may be issued through aclient-side application leveraging an SDK, directly through a REST API,or the like. Trusted business networks may provide access to regulatorsystems 314, such as auditors (the Securities and Exchange Commission ina U.S. equities market, for example). Meanwhile, a blockchain networkoperator system of nodes 308 manage member permissions, such asenrolling the regulator system 310 as an “auditor” and the blockchainuser 302 as a “client”. An auditor could be restricted only to queryingthe ledger whereas a client could be authorized to deploy, invoke, andquery certain types of chaincode.

A blockchain developer system 316 writes chaincode and client-sideapplications. The blockchain developer system 316 can deploy chaincodedirectly to the network through a REST interface. To include credentialsfrom a traditional data source 330 in chaincode, the developer system316 could use an out-of-band connection to access the data. In thisexample, the blockchain user 302 connects to the blockchain networkprocessor 332 through a peer node 312. Before proceeding with anytransactions, the peer node 312 retrieves the user's enrollment andtransaction certificates from the certificate authority 318. In somecases, blockchain users must possess these digital certificates in orderto transact on the permissioned blockchain network 310. Meanwhile, auser attempting to drive chaincode may be required to verify theircredentials on the traditional data source 330. To confirm the user'sauthorization, chaincode can use an out-of-band connection to this datathrough a traditional processing platform 320.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of messaging 400 that may take placebetween participants, or entities/users, 410 and 420 of the blockchainnetwork and the blockchain 430. In 412, an entity 410 stores a new asset(e.g., some form of processing of the evidence protected by theblockchain) to be added in a block of the blockchain 430. A transactionpayload is then released to the blockchain 430 at 413. A Smart Contractrelease in the world state of the blockchain is then stored at 416.Acquisition of the Smart Contract is then enabled from the world stateat 418. A certificate of entity 2 is then verified, at 422, and a checkis performed to verify that the expiration date of the certificate hasnot expired, e.g., is still active, at 423. Access to the blockchainnetwork, or other action sought to be taken by entity 2, is thengranted, at 426, and the asset (e.g., evidence) requested by entity 2 isthen retrieved, at 428, from the blockchain network and made accessibleto entity 2. These messaging operations may be performed, for example,in association with a processor or managing entity/software of theblockchain network through one or more appropriate interfaces.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a system 500 that includes aphysical infrastructure 510 configured to perform various operations forthe blockchain. The physical infrastructure 510 includes a module 512and a module 514. The module 514 includes a blockchain 520 and a smartcontract 530 (which may reside on the blockchain 520), that may executeany of the operations 508 (in module 512) included in any of the exampleembodiments. The operations 508 may include one or more of theembodiments described or depicted and may represent output or writteninformation that is written or read from one or more smart contracts 530and/or blockchain 520. The physical infrastructure 510, the module 512,and the module 514 may include one or more computers, servers,processors, memories, and/or wireless communication devices. Further,the module 512 and the module 514 may be a same module.

FIG. 6 illustrates another system 600 configured to perform variousoperations according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 6, thesystem 600 includes a module 612 and a module 614. The module 614includes a blockchain 620 and a smart contract 630 (which may reside onthe blockchain 620), that may execute any of the operational steps 608(in module 612) included in any of the example embodiments. Theoperations 608 may include one or more of the embodiments described ordepicted and may represent output or written information that is writtenor read from one or more smart contracts 630 and/or blockchains 620. Thephysical infrastructure 610, the module 612, and the module 614 mayinclude one or more computers, servers, processors, memories, and/orwireless communication devices. Further, the module 612 and the module614 may be a same module.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a Smart Contract configuration 750among contracting parties and a mediating server configured to enforcethe Smart Contract rules/terms on the blockchain. The configuration 750may represent a communication session, an asset transfer session or aprocess or procedure that is driven by a Smart Contract 730 whichexplicitly identifies one or more user devices 752 and/or 756. Theexecution, operations and results of the Smart Contract execution may bemanaged by a server 754. Content of the Smart Contract 730 may requiredigital signatures by one or more of the entities 752 and 756 which areparties to the Smart Contract transaction. The results of the SmartContract execution may be written to a blockchain 720 as a blockchaintransaction. The Smart Contract 730 resides on the blockchain 720, whichmay reside on one or more computers, servers, processors, memories,and/or wireless communication devices. The blockchain 720 may includedigital evidence as discussed herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a system 860 including anapplication programming interface (API) gateway 862 provides a commoninterface to access blockchain logic (e.g., Smart Contract 830 or otherchaincode) and data (e.g., distributed ledger, etc.). In this example,the API gateway 862 is a common interface to perform transactions(invoke, queries, etc.) on the blockchain by connecting one or moreentities 852 and 856 to a blockchain peer (e.g., server 854). The server854 may be a blockchain network peer component that holds a copy of theworld state and a distributed ledger allowing clients 852 and 856 toquery data on the world state, as well as submit transactions into theblockchain network where, depending on the Smart Contract 830 andendorsement policy, endorsing peers will run the smart contracts 830.The Smart Contracts shown in FIGS. 5-8 may be the same or different. Inone embodiment, each participant in the blockchain network may store acopy of the distributed ledger and blockchain with an immutable historyof all the transactions that took place in the network relative to theblockchain.

The embodiments described herein may be implemented in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, in firmware, or in acombination of the above. A computer program may be embodied on acomputer-readable medium, such as a storage medium. For example, acomputer program may reside in random access memory (“RAM”), flashmemory, read-only memory (“ROM”), erasable programmable read-only memory(“EPROM”), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a compact diskread-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any other form of storage medium.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In one embodiment, the storage medium may be integral tothe processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In one embodiment, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.

FIG. 9A illustrates an embodiment of a process 900 to add a new block toa distributed ledger 930 of the blockchain, and FIG. 9B illustrates anexample of a block structure 950 for the blockchain.

Referring to FIG. 9A, clients may submit transactions to blockchainnodes 921, 922, and/or 923. Clients may be instructions received fromany source to enact activity on the blockchain 930. As an example,clients may be applications that act on behalf of a requester, such as adevice, person or entity to propose transactions for the blockchain. Theplurality of blockchain peers (e.g., blockchain nodes 921, 922, and 923)may maintain a state of the blockchain network and a copy of thedistributed ledger 930. Different types of blockchain nodes/peers may bepresent in the blockchain network including endorsing peers whichsimulate and endorse transactions proposed by clients and committingpeers which verify endorsements, validate transactions, and committransactions to the distributed ledger 930. In this example, theblockchain nodes 921, 922, and 923 may perform the role of endorsernode, committer node, or both.

The distributed ledger 930 includes a blockchain 932 which storesimmutable, sequenced records in blocks, and a state database 934(current world state) maintaining a current state of the blockchain 932.One distributed ledger 930 may exist per channel and each peer maintainsits own copy of the distributed ledger 930 for each channel of whichthey are a member. The blockchain 932 is a transaction log, structuredas hash-linked blocks where each block contains a sequence of Ntransactions. Blocks may include various components such as illustratedin FIG. 9B. Linking of the blocks may be generated by adding a hash ofthe header of a previous block within the header of a current block. Inthis way, all transactions on the blockchain 932 are sequenced andcryptographically linked together preventing tampering with blockchaindata without breaking the hash links. Furthermore, because of the links,the latest block in the blockchain 932 represents every transaction thathas come before it. The blockchain 932 may be stored on a peer filesystem (local or attached storage), which supports an append-onlyblockchain workload.

The current state of the blockchain 932 and the distributed ledger 932may be stored in the state database 934. The current state data mayrepresent, for example, the latest values for all keys ever included inthe chain transaction log of the blockchain 932. Chaincode invocationsexecute transactions against the current state in the state database934. To make these chaincode interactions extremely efficient, thelatest values of all keys are stored in the state database 934. Thestate database 934 may include an indexed view into the transaction logof the blockchain 932, it can therefore be regenerated from the chain atany time. The state database 934 may automatically get recovered (orgenerated if needed), for example, upon peer startup before transactionsare accepted.

Endorsing nodes receive transactions from clients and endorse thetransaction based on simulated results. Endorsing nodes hold smartcontracts which simulate the transaction proposals. When an endorsingnode endorses a transaction, the endorsing nodes creates a transactionendorsement which is a signed response from the endorsing node to theclient application indicating the endorsement of the simulatedtransaction. The method of endorsing a transaction depends on anendorsement policy which may be specified within chaincode. An exampleof an endorsement policy is “the majority of endorsing peers mustendorse the transaction”. Different channels may have differentendorsement policies. Endorsed transactions are forward by the clientapplication to ordering service 910.

The ordering service 910 accepts endorsed transactions, orders them intoa block, and delivers the blocks to the committing peers. For example,the ordering service 910 may initiate a new block when a threshold oftransactions has been reached, a timer times out, or another condition.In the example of FIG. 9A, blockchain node 922 is a committing peer thathas received a new data block 950 for storage on blockchain 930.

The ordering service 910 may be made up of a cluster of orderers. Theordering service 910 does not process transactions, smart contracts, ormaintain the shared ledger. Rather, the ordering service 910 may acceptthe endorsed transactions and specifies the order in which thosetransactions are committed to the distributed ledger 930. Thearchitecture of the blockchain network may be designed such that thespecific implementation of ‘ordering’ (e.g., Solo, Kafka, BFT, etc.)becomes a pluggable component.

Transactions are written to the distributed ledger 930 in a consistentorder. The order of transactions is established to ensure that theupdates to the state database 934 are valid when they are committed tothe network. In accordance with one or more embodiments, the parties ofthe distributed ledger 930 may choose the ordering mechanism that bestsuits that network.

When the ordering service 910 initializes a new block 950, the new block950 may be broadcast to committing peers (e.g., blockchain nodes 921,922, and 923). In response, each committing peer validates thetransaction within the new block 950 by checking to make sure that theread set and the write set still match the current world state in thestate database 934. Specifically, the committing peer can determinewhether the read data that existed when the endorsers simulated thetransaction is identical to the current world state in the statedatabase 934. When the committing peer validates the transaction, thetransaction is written to the blockchain 932 on the distributed ledger930, and the state database 934 is updated with the write data from theread-write set. If a transaction fails, that is, if the committing peerfinds that the read-write set does not match the current world state inthe state database 934, the transaction ordered into a block will stillbe included in that block, but it will be marked as invalid, and thestate database 934 will not be updated.

Referring to FIG. 9B, a block 950 (also referred to as a data block)that is stored on the blockchain 932 of the distributed ledger 930 mayinclude multiple data segments such as a block header 960, block data970, and block metadata 980. It should be appreciated that the variousdepicted blocks and their contents, such as block 950 and its contents,illustrated in FIG. 9B are merely for purposes of example and are notmeant to limit the scope of the example embodiments. In some cases, boththe block header 960 and the block metadata 980 may be smaller than theblock data 970 which stores transaction data, however this is not arequirement. The block 950 may store transactional information of Ntransactions within the block data 970. The block 950 may also include alink to a previous block (e.g., on the blockchain 932 in FIG. 9A) withinthe block header 960. For example, the block header 960 may include ahash of the header of a previous block. The block header 960 may alsoinclude a unique block number, a hash of the block data 970 of thecurrent block 950, and the like. The block number of the block 950 maybe unique and assigned in an incremental/sequential order starting fromzero. The first block in the blockchain may be referred to as a genesisblock which includes information about the blockchain, its members, thedata stored therein, etc.

The block data 970 may store transactional information of eachtransaction that is recorded within the block 950. For example, thetransaction data may include one or more of a type of the transaction, aversion, a timestamp, a channel ID of the distributed ledger 930, atransaction ID, an epoch, a payload visibility, a chaincode path (deploytx), a chaincode name, a chaincode version, input (chaincode andfunctions), a client (creator) identify such as a public key andcertificate, a signature of the client, identities of endorsers,endorser signatures, a proposal hash, chaincode events, response status,namespace, a read set (list of key and version read by the transaction,etc.), a write set (list of key and value, etc.), a start key, an endkey, a list of keys, a Merkel tree query summary, and the like. Thetransaction data may be stored for each of the N transactions.

In some embodiments, the block data 970 may also store data 972 whichadds additional information to the hash-linked chain of blocks in theblockchain 932. Accordingly, the data 972 can be stored in an immutablelog of blocks on the distributed ledger 930. Some of the benefits ofstoring such data 972 are reflected in the various embodiments disclosedand depicted herein.

The block metadata 980 may store multiple fields of metadata (e.g., as abyte array, etc.). Metadata fields may include signature on blockcreation, a reference to a last configuration block, a transactionfilter identifying valid and invalid transactions within the block, lastoffset persisted of an ordering service that ordered the block, and thelike. The signature, the last configuration block, and the orderermetadata may be added by the ordering service 910. Meanwhile, acommitter of the block (such as blockchain node 922) may addvalidity/invalidity information based on an endorsement policy,verification of read/write sets, and the like. The transaction filtermay include a byte array of a size equal to the number of transactionsin the block data 970 and a validation code identifying whether atransaction was valid/invalid.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a computing node 1000 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove. (The arrangement illustrated in FIG. 10 is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality ofembodiments of the application described herein).

In computing node 1000 there is a computer system/server 1002, which isoperational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 1002 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 1002 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 1002 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, computer system/server 1002 in cloudcomputing node 1000 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computingdevice. The components of computer system/server 1002 may include, butare not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 1004, asystem memory 1006, and a bus that couples various system componentsincluding system memory 1006 to processor 1004.

The bus represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 1002 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 1002, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. System memory1006, in one embodiment, implements the flow diagrams of the otherfigures. The system memory 1006 can include computer system readablemedia in the form of volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM)1010 and/or cache memory 1012. Computer system/server 1002 may furtherinclude other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computersystem storage media.

By way of example only, storage system 1014 can be provided to read fromand write to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media (not shown andtypically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, a magnetic diskdrive to read from and write to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk(e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive to read from orwriting to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances, eachcan be connected to the bus by one or more data media interfaces. Aswill be further depicted and described below, memory 1006 may includeone or more program products having a set of (e.g., one or more) programmodules that are configured to carry out the functions of variousembodiments of the application.

Program/utility 1016, having a set of (one or more) program modules1018, may be stored in memory 1006 by way of example, and notlimitation, as well as an operating system, one or more applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data. Each of the operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program modules, andprogram data or some combination thereof, may include an implementationof a networking environment. Program modules 1018 generally carry outthe functions and/or methodologies of various embodiments of theapplication as described herein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentapplication may be embodied as a system, method, or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present application may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present application may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Computer system/server 1002 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 1020 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display1022, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact withcomputer system/server 1002; and/or any devices (e.g., network card,modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 1002 to communicate withone or more other computing devices. Such communication can occur viaI/O interfaces 1024. Still yet, computer system/server 1002 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 1026. As depicted, network adapter1026 communicates with the other components of computer system/server1002 via a bus. It should be understood that although not shown, otherhardware and/or software components could be used in conjunction withcomputer system/server 1002. Examples, include, but are not limited to:microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external diskdrive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storagesystems, etc.

Blockchain as a Service

The processing required to implement a blockchain may be significant interms of cost and complexity. As a result, it may be difficult to findsoftware engineers and developers who are technically proficient in thisarea. These and other challenges may deter companies from usingblockchain in their business plans. This would be unfortunate because ofthe advantages blockchain has to offer relative to competingtechnologies.

One or more embodiments described herein offer a solution to theproblems mentioned above, by providing blockchain as a service (Baas).In accordance with one embodiment, a software company may offer togenerate, configure, and manage a blockchain for a customer in returnfor a fee. Providing such a service will free the customer from makingcostly expenditures on technical equipment and will reduce overhead byalleviating the need to hire large numbers of in-house softwareengineers to manage the blockchain. As a result, the customer canconcentrate on what it does best, serving its own customer base byproviding great products and services.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a blockchain network 1100 that isimplemented outside the context of blockchain as a service. In thisexample, blockchain network 1100 includes a plurality of nodes Node 1 toNode K that are connected to a communications network 1110, which, forexample, may be the Internet. The nodes may be peer nodes, each of whichmanages a copy of a distributed ledger corresponding to a blockchain.The communications network 1110 may be the Internet, a cloud network, orany other type of public or private network.

Each node of the plurality of nodes Node 1 to Node K may include, forexample, a server, computer, or other terminal that implements ablockchain application 1120 and blockchain software 1130. The blockchainapplication 1120 in each node may be the same type of application and,for example, may correspond to the specific type of business orinformation associated with the entries in the blocks of the blockchain.For example, when the blockchain protects entries that include financialinformation, the blockchain application 1120 may generate transactiondata that is to be stored in associated blocks of the blockchain. Whenthe blockchain protects entries that include another type of client data(e.g., image data, medical records, retail sales data, etc.), theblockchain application 1120 in each node may generate or otherwiseorganize the client data for storage in associated blocks of theblockchain.

In order to store the data in the blockchain, the blockchain application1120 may be written to include various software interfaces thatorganize, format, and hand off the data for storage. For example,consider the case of where the blockchain stores data relating to carsales. Each node may correspond to a different dealership of a carmanufacturer. The blockchain application 1120 in each node may generateand send data for storage on the blockchain throughout predeterminedstages of the sales process for each car. When a sales associate entersinformation identifying the purchase of a car into the dealershipcomputer terminal, that terminal may send information to the dealershipserver, e.g., Node 1. The blockchain application 1120 at Node 1 mayorganize and send data indicating the vehicle identification number,sales price, and purchaser information to be stored in a block of theblockchain. Then, the blockchain application of Node 1 may organize andsend data indicating the financing the purchaser secured for the car tobe stored in a subsequent block of the blockchain, and so on. Theblockchain application 1120 may reside at the server only or may besplit into different modules stored in the sales associate dealershipterminal and the server of Node 1.

The software applications 1120 at other nodes Node 2 to Node K mayperform similar operations for their respective dealerships. This may beaccomplished, for example, by each node in the blockchain networkstoring the same blockchain software (e.g., smart contract (orchaincode), etc.). In one case, the blockchain application 1120 at oneor more nodes may be different depending, for example, on differences inthe ways in which the client (e.g., car dealership) at each nodeperforms business.

The blockchain software 1130 serves as an interface between the softwareapplication 1120 and the blockchain. In one case, the blockchainsoftware 1130 at each node may include a copy of the shared ledger, anapplication programming interface (API), and a smart contract (orchaincode) responsible for processing the data from the correspondingblockchain application of that node. This smart contract (or chaincode)may perform operations which include, for example, generating requeststo add a new block to the blockchain, processing responses to therequest from the other nodes, generating the new block, validating thedata to be included in the new block, performing a consensus protocolwith other nodes, generating and transmitting events among nodes in thenetwork, querying the blockchain for data, and/or other operations asdescribed herein. The API, smart contracts (or chaincode), and otherfeatures included in the blockchain software may, for example,correspond to those in one or more of FIGS. 1 to 10 previouslydiscussed. The communications that take place among the nodes by eachnode during this process is shown by the dotted lines, which, forexample, represent a predetermined blockchain protocol.

The shared ledger for the blockchain (including the new block) is thenstored at the other nodes, so that each node stores or otherwise hasaccess to the latest copy of the shared distributed ledger. Each node inthe blockchain network may store the same blockchain software (e.g.,smart contract (or chaincode), etc.) or may store different variationsdepending, for example, on differences in the blockchain applications1120 at those nodes. In one case, two or more of the nodes Node 1 toNode K may store multiple smart contracts and corresponding chaincode,either for the same blockchain or different blockchains. Because theledger is immutable, the data stored in the blockchain is protected interms of its validity and integrity.

FIG. 12 shows an example 1200 of how blocks may be added to theblockchain by each node in the network of FIG. 11. In example 1200, theblockchain application 1120 of the node submits an entry 1210 to thecorresponding blockchain software 1130. The entry 1210 may include or bein the form of a request to add a block based on data or otherinformation relating to an operation performed by the blockchainapplication 1120, e.g., sale of a car in the example previouslydiscussed. In one case, the request may include or prompt a POST of atransaction in Hyperledger composer API.

The blockchain software 1130 may maintain entries in two categories:pending and confirmed. When entry 1220 is received, the blockchainssoftware 1130 may add this entry to other pending entries 1220 whichhave not yet received consensus from the other peer nodes in thenetwork. These entries may be stored in an order queue in what may bereferred to as a proposed block 1230 to be added to the blockchain. Thepending entries may be input into a consensus protocol 1240 involvingthe other peer nodes. The pending entries may be input one-by-one forconsensus, or the entire propose block 1230 may be input for consensus.Once consensus has been received (e.g., through proof-of-work,proof-of-state, etc.) among all the peer nodes in the blockchainnetwork, the blockchain software 1130 may form a new block 1250including entries 1260 that correspond to all or a portion of thepending entries. The new block 1250 is then appended to the previouslyblocks in the shared ledger 1270 maintained by all of the peer nodes.The blocks in the blockchain may include pointers to (e.g., hashedvalues for) previous blocks and are cryptographically signed to maintainintegrity.

The process of managing a blockchain as indicated in FIGS. 11 and 12 maybe cause substantial delays or include inefficiencies, at least in somecases. For example, in order to receive consensus, each pending entry issent to all participating peer nodes for confirmation. This process canbe time-consuming. Moreover, it takes significant time for the peernodes to respond, if for no other reason that the network conditions atthe geographic locations of the nodes, which, in some cases, may bedispersed throughout the world. Thus, the processing of adding blocks tothe blockchain and maintaining the ledger can be complex and slow.

FIG. 13 shows a blockchain as a service (Baas) embodiment 1300 which mayovercome delays and other inefficiencies associated with the examplesshown in FIGS. 11 and 12. In this Baas embodiment, one or more of thenodes are different from one or more other nodes in the network. Forexample, each of Nodes 1 and K may include the blockchain application1120, but do not include blockchain software 1130. The blockchainsoftware 1130 for these nodes may be stored in corresponding virtualnodes 1310 and 1320 maintained by a hosted Baas provider 1340, which,for example, may be a software company offering the Baas service.

The virtual nodes 1310 and 1320 allow the Baas provider to perform theoperations of the blockchain software 1130 on behalf of the blockchainparticipants (e.g., customers) which own or operate Nodes 1 and K. Thistakes the processing burden and its associated costs off the blockchainparticipants of Nodes 1 and K, freeing them to focus on their respectivebusinesses while paying a fee for the Baas service. This also alleviatesthe need for the blockchain participants of Nodes 1 and K to hireadditional software engineers to manage their blockchain nodes,resulting in additional costs savings and time efficiencies for theseparticipants.

In order to implement this Baas embodiment, the blockchain applicationsof Nodes 1 and K must be written to communicate with virtual nodes 1310and 1320, respectively. This may be accomplished, for example, byincorporating an appropriate communication interface in or coupled tothe blockchain application which exchanges entries, messages, and otherinformation for managing the shared ledger and committing blocks to theblockchain, among other operations. The communication path between Nodes1 and K and their respective virtual nodes 1310 and 1320 may take placethrough the communication network 1110 or through a different (e.g.,peer-to-peer connection) path, shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 13.

The Baas provider 1340 may include additional virtual nodes 1330 forother nodes in the blockchain network or for other nodes in a differentblockchain network managing a different blockchain either for the sameor different blockchain participants. In this latter case, the Baasprovider may therefore service a diverse array of clients in theirrespective businesses, which, for example, may be independent from oneanother. Smart contracts, network policies, and or other managinginformation may be implemented by the Baas provider 1340 in order toprevent information from one client or customer network frominadvertently being combined with other clients or customers receivingservice from the Baas provider.

In one embodiment, the Baas provider 1340 may include one or morevirtual nodes 1330 that include both the blockchain application 1120 andblockchain software 1130. In this case, the Baas provider 340 mayperform hosting services for the customer or owner of the virtual node1330 in addition to its role as blockchain services provider. Forexample, Baas provider 1340 may serve as a web site host, performingoperations that correspond to the blockchain application 1120 and theoperations of the blockchain software 1130 of virtual Node 3. In oneembodiment, the virtual nodes of the Baas provider may communicate withother nodes (e.g., Node 4, Node 2, etc.) that are not virtual nodes, aswell as other virtual nodes, through the blockchain communicationprotocol (e.g., see dotted lines). In FIG. 13, box 1340 may represent asingle server of the Baas provider. In another embodiment, the Baasprovider may manage multiple servers, and the same blockchain may bemanaged by the Baas server for virtual nodes that span its multipleservers.

FIG. 14 shows another embodiment 1400 including one or more servers 1410implementing blockchain as a service. However, unlike the embodiment ofFIG. 13, the Baas embodiment 1400 includes a manager 1450 which performsa fast path service that communicates with non-virtual and/or virtualnodes of the blockchain network. While the fast path service is shown asan operation performed by the Baas manager, the fast path service may beperformed by the blockchain software of one or more of the virtual nodesin the Baas provider in other embodiments, or fast path services may beperformed by both the Baas manager 1450 and the blockchain software inone or more of the virtual nodes.

In such a network, many agents may be using the Baas server 1410simultaneously, either relative to the same blockchain or multipleblockchains. The agents may be nodes in the blockchain network havingvirtual nodes in the Baas provider, clients connected to the nodes,users of the clients, or other devices coupled to submit, receive, ormanage information relating to the blockchain network. Without the fastpath service, bottlenecks and other processing delays will undoubtedlyoccur that will adversely affect the efficiency and responsiveness ofblockchain operations. Some of these delays may occur transparently tothe users. But, more often than not, the delays will disrupt node andapplication performance.

The fast path service 1450 may reduce delays and otherwise increaseprocessing efficiency relative to the nodes and virtual nodes in theblockchain network. In one embodiment, the fast path service 1450 mayensure that entries in the distributed shared ledger of the blockchainare made available to other agents without significant delays. This maybe accomplished by logic (e.g., software, hardware, or a combination)that implements one of more of the following approaches for streamliningprocessing performance:

-   -   a) perform a single transfer of information from an agent to a        hosted server of a Baas provider, instead of multiple transfers        of information across multiple agents,    -   b) replace agent-to-agent communications with a server-to-server        communication,    -   c) store large files in a single location and using simple        pointers to them, and    -   d) transfer a confirmed block of entries into one or more new        blocks without storing the entries in a pending queue.

Single Transfer of Information

FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of a method 1500 that may be performed byfast path service 1450 to implement approach a) for one or more nodesthat are co-hosted by the Baas provider, which may be server 1410. FIG.16 shows an example of the process flow 1600 that may be performed whenthe method of FIG. 15 is implemented.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, at 1510, the blockchain application 1120in a node 1610 of the blockchain network sends a file, data, or otherinformation (commonly referred to as data) to a corresponding virtualnode 1310 in the Baas server 1410. The blockchain software 1130 in thevirtual node receives the data, but does not place an entry in thepending queue or block (e.g., queue 1230 in FIG. 12) for the blockchain.Rather, at 1520, the blockchain software 1130 of the virtual nodedetermines that a fast path service operation is to be performed for thedata.

Determining that a fast path service operation is to be performed may bebased on one or more predetermined conditions. In one embodiment, theblockchain application 1120 of the node may detect the size of the datato be sent to the virtual node of the Baas provider. If the data exceedsa predetermined size, then the blockchain application 1120 may provideinformation to the blockchain software 1130 in the corresponding virtualnode that a particular fast path service operation is to be performed.The information may be sent, for example, by setting a flag in a fieldof a packet sent with the data, including an identifier in a packetheader, or transmitting an event or message to the blockchain software1130 in the virtual node. In one embodiment, the blockchain software1130 may determine the size of the data received from the blockchainapplication 1120 and notify the fast path service accordingly.

Once it has been determined that a fast path service operation is to beperformed, the blockchain software 1130 may send the data and/or anotification signal 1620 to the fast path service 1450. The notificationsignal may notify the fast path service 1450 that data has been receivedat the virtual node and that a fast path service operation is to beperformed. The notification signal may also include one or more bitsindicating the type of fast path service operation to be performed,when, for example, the fast path service is capable of performingmultiple types of operations. Based on the notification signal, the fastpath service 1450 may perform one or more operations for reducing delaysin connection with obtaining consensus for an entry to be included in anew block to be appended to the blockchain for the received data and/orfor otherwise managing operations performed in connection with theblockchain.

At 1530, the fast path service operation may involve the fast pathservice 1450 instructing the blockchain software 1130 to store thereceived data in a memory, database, or some other storage area 1630. Inone embodiment, the fast path service 1450 may receive and store thedata in area 1630. Once the data has been stored, at 1540, the fast pathservice 1450 receives a pointer (not the data itself), for example, fromthe storage area itself, the blockchain software 1130, or another typeof manager of the Baas provider that manages data storage operations. Inone embodiment, the blockchain software 1130 of the virtual node mayreceive the pointer. The pointer may include, for example, an addresscorresponding to the location in the memory, database, or storage areawhere the data is stored. In one implementation, the pointer may includea website address or other information identifying where the data hasbeen stored.

If the fast path service 1450 receives the pointer, then, at 1550, thefast path service 1450 sends the pointer to the blockchain software 1130at the virtual node. Otherwise, the blockchain software 1130 (whichreceived the pointer) adds an entry in a pending queue that correspondsto the pointer, but not the data. The blockchain software may performthese operations based on instructions from the fast path service orbased on instructions programmed into its own software at the virtualnode. Then, at 1560, the entry (either alone or along with otherentries) may be submitted for consensus. A new block including the entrymay be appended to the blockchain when consensus is confirmed, at 1570.In one embodiment, the fast path service 1450 may manage adding theentry to the pending queue, consensus, and new block generation.

When the data is to be retrieved by the node or a different node, then,at 1580, the blockchain may be queried to recover the pointer. Thepointer may then be used to access the data at the storage locationidentified by the pointer.

Thus, the fast path service 1450 allows only a single transfer of datato be performed in order to append a block to the blockchain thatcorresponds to the data received from the node and to obtain that datawhen later queried. In other types of methods, the data would betransferred between nodes through the blockchain network as aconsequence of adding a new block.

Moreover, by storing the data and generating an entry that onlycorresponds to the pointer, the efficiency of appending a new block tothe blockchain may be substantially improved. This is especiallybeneficial because the delays that would otherwise be associated withstoring data (and especially for large size data) in a new block (orprocessing that data to create a hash for the data) is reduced oreliminated. Of course, the fast path service may perform this operationfor any size data, not just large size files.

Another benefit is reducing the amount of data to be stored in thedistributed shared ledger. Because the new block includes an entrycorresponding to the pointer, and not the actual data, the storagerequirements for implementing this approach to fast path service may besubstantially reduced for all nodes that store a copy of the ledger inthe blockchain network. Also, when the data is stored locally at a node,the actual data is not transmitted, which reduces network traffic andfrees up available bandwidth. Thus, the fast path service improves theway in which a computer operates in relation to the management, access,and protection of information stored on the blockchain.

Communications between the blockchain application in the node and theblockchain software in the virtual node may be performed, for example,through an optimized REST interface. This same interface may supportcommunications between or among nodes using the blockchaincommunications protocol, or another type of interface may be used forthis purpose.

If the blockchain software 1130 in a virtual node receives data from theblockchain application 1120 without information indicating that a fastpath service should be performed, then the blockchain software 1130 mayoperate in the manner described in FIG. 12 or 13 for purposes ofconsensus and appending a new block to the blockchain.

In one embodiment, the blockchain application 1120 in the node may notsend the data to the virtual node. In this case, the blockchainapplication 1120 may store the data in a local database or other storagearea 1640 and then send a pointer indicative of the location or addressin that local database or other storage area to the blockchain softwarein the virtual node. The fast path service 1450 may then operate anindicated above for purposes of adding a new block including an entrycorresponding to the pointer to the blockchain.

The fast path service 1450 may implement approach a) in a number ofother scenarios. For example, consider the case where a transactionoccurs between Node 1 and Node 3. Assume further that Node 1 and Node 3are hosted on the same server of the Baas provider. In the case of Node1, the blockchain application is located at this node and the blockchainsoftware is hosted in a virtual node of the Baas provider. In the caseof Node 3, the Baas provider hosts the blockchain application and theblockchain software in a virtual node.

When the transaction occurs between Node 1 and Node 3, the fast pathservice 1450 may streamline efficiency of blockchain management relatingto the transaction as a result of both nodes having virtual nodes in theBaas provider. For example, the fast path service 1450 may store datacorresponding to the transaction in a file shared by virtual Nodes 1 and3, and a pointer to the shared file in a storage device accessible byboth virtual nodes may be incorporated within an entry of a new block tobe added to the blockchain. An example of the storage device that storesthe shared file is shown as database 1630 in FIG. 16.

When the fast path service 1450 invokes this shared-file approach, othernodes or virtual nodes maintained by the Baas provider (either in thesame server or a different Baas server) may access the datacorresponding to the transaction simply by linking to the shared file.This may be performed, for example, by querying the blockchain to locatethe block with the entry that has a pointer to the shared file locationin the Baas provider.

The shared file approach taken by the fast path service 1450 maypreserve network resources because communication between the transactingNodes 1 and 3 takes place through the virtual nodes inside the server(or servers) of the Baas provider, not through the blockchain network.Using the shared file approach is also more efficient because itprevents transfers of large volumes of information between the virtualnode in the Baas provider. This shared file approach may also streamlineefficiency of committing a new block to the blockchain and subsequentlyaccessing the transaction data in the shared file because use of thenetwork is avoided.

The shared file in FIG. 16 is located in database 1630 within the Baasprovider. In one embodiment, the shared file may be stored in a storagearea located outside of, but in communication with, the Baas provider.In this case, the storage area may be located at another location, e.g.,stand-alone storage network or a network-attached storage device.

Server-to-Server Communications

FIG. 17 shows an embodiment of a method 1700 that may be performed byfast path service 1450 to implement approach b) for multiple agents ornodes having virtual nodes located on different servers of the Baasprovider. This scenario includes, but is not limited to, a set of nodeshaving virtual nodes that are co-located in one server and working withanother set of nodes having virtual nodes hosted on another server ofthe Baas provider. FIG. 18 shows an example of the process flow 1800that may be performed when the method of FIG. 17 is implemented.

Referring to FIGS. 17 and 18, the Baas provider includes a first server1710 and a second server 1720. The first server 1710 hosts M virtualnodes and the second server 1720 hosts N virtual nodes, where M and Nmay be the same number of different numbers. Because the M and N virtualnodes are hosted by the same Baas provider, the M virtual nodes in theBaas server 1710 may communicate with the N virtual nodes of the Baasserver 1720 inside of the Baas provider domain. This alleviates the needfor agents or nodes from communicating with one another through theblockchain network 1110 external to the Baas provider.

In one example implementation, a first node 1730 wants to communicatewith a second node 1740 in the blockchain network. At 1810, theblockchain application 1120 in the first node does not communicate withthe second node through the blockchain network, e.g., throughcommunication network 1110. Rather, the blockchain application 1120 ofthe first node sends information to be communicated to its virtual nodeM in server 1710 of the Baas provider. The information may include arequest to communicate information to the virtual node N of the secondnode, which is located in another server 1720 of the Baas provider.

At 1820, the blockchain software 1130 submits a notification to the fastpath service logic 1450 indicating that information is to be sent to thesecond in the other server.

At 1830, the fast path service logic 1450 notifies the first node thatthe information is to be sent to the second node through an internalsignal path 1750 located within the domain of the Baas provider. In oneembodiment, the instruction (or notification) to send the informationfrom virtual node M to virtual node N through the signal path 1750 maybe programmed into the blockchain software 1130 of virtual node M. Theblockchain software 1130 may perform this function by referencing a listof nodes and/or virtual nodes that are included in the servers of theBaas provider. The list may be stored at each of the virtual nodes ormay be maintained by a manager of the Baas provider, e.g., the samemanager which includes the fast path service logic.

At 1840, when notified by the fast path service logic1450, theblockchain software of virtual node M transmits the information to becommunicated to the blockchain software of virtual node N through theinternal signal path 1750.

At 1850, the virtual node N may communicate the information receivedfrom the virtual node M through signal path 1750 to the second node, ifwarranted.

Because the intra-communications that take place between servers of theBaas provider are not encumbered with delays of the blockchain network1100, information may be communicated between nodes (through theirvirtual nodes) using an internal data path of the Baas provider. Thus,communications may be performed far more quickly and efficiently.

The information transmitted between the virtual nodes may include, butare not limited to those associated with, data and/or other informationcorresponding to transactions or entries for new blocks to be added tothe blockchain, consensus and validation information, events, messages,and other types of messages that take place between nodes of ablockchain network. Thus, the method of FIG. 18 may include an operationof determining that one or more of the M virtual nodes are involved in atransaction with one or more N virtual nodes, and then transmittinginformation between the servers of the Baas provider, as describedabove. In the case where the first server 1710 includes M virtual nodesand the second server 1720 includes N virtual nodes, MN exchanges ofinformation may be performed among agents through a single exchange path1750 between the two servers of the Baas provider.

File Storage With Pointers

FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of a method 1900 that may be performed byfast path service 1450 to implement approach c) for any type of node.The method includes, at 1910, receiving a file at a virtual node of theBaas provider. The file may be received by a blockchain application 1120at a corresponding node in the blockchain network or from a blockchainapplication 1120 that is also hosted by the Baas provider.

At 1920, the blockchain software 1130 of the virtual node determinesthat the size of the file exceeds a predetermined size, e.g., is a largefile.

At 1930, the blockchain software 1130 notifies the fast path service1450 that the file is to be shared by different virtual nodes managed bythe same server of the Baas provider. The different virtual nodes may bedetermined by the blockchain software 1130, for example, by transactioninformation received from the corresponding blockchain application 1120.

At 1940, the fast path service 1450 stores the large file in a storagearea of the virtual node or a storage area accessible by the virtualnode. Subsequently, the large size file (or a pointer of the storagearea location storing the file) may be stored in a block of theblockchain.

At 1950, the fast path service 1450 performs a storage level mirroringoperation which involves mirroring storage of the file among the othernodes in the same server of the Baas provider that are to share thefile. In one embodiment, one or more blocks on the blockchain thatcorrespond to the file may be mirrored to other virtual nodes in thesame server of the Baas provider. This will alleviate the need to usepeer node to peer node communications among all the agents of nodeshosted by the same server.

Pending Queue to Confirmed Block Transfer

FIG. 20 shows an embodiment of a method 2000 that may be performed byfast path service 1450 to implement approach d) to improve the effectivetime of consensus among different agents with virtual nodes that areco-hosted by the same Baas provider. This may be accomplished bycontrolling the transfer of information from a pending queue to aconfirmed block in a way that reduces time consensus time. FIG. 21 showsan example of one possible scenario 2100 in which the method of FIG. 20may be implemented.

Referring to FIGS. 20 and 21, at 2010, blockchain software 1130 mayreceive one or more entries 2110 to be added in a new block of ablockchain from a blockchain application 1120. The blockchainapplication 1120 may be located at a node and the blockchain software1130 may be located at a corresponding virtual node hosted by the Baasprovider. In one embodiment, both the blockchain application 1120 andthe blockchain software 1130 may be hosted by the Baas provider.

Each entry 2110 may include information to be incorporated within a newblock of the blockchain or which otherwise is associated with theblockchain and/or its attendant nodes and virtual nodes. For example,each entry may include information corresponding to one or moretransactions with a customer and/or between nodes, data, files, publicand/or private key information, digital certificates, permissions,policies, chaincode information, events, or messages.

At 2020, the blockchain software 1130 processes the entry in a mannercompatible with blockchain submissions and submits the entry 2110 to apolicy-based module 2120 of the fast path service 1450.

At 2030, the policy-based module 2120 checks each entry it receivesagainst a first set of policies stored in the virtual node of theblockchain software 1130 or otherwise accessible to this virtual node.In one embodiment, the first set of policies may be stored in chaincodeassociated with the virtual node or in a Baas manager 1450, which, forexample, may be included in the logic of the fast path service. Forillustrative purposes only, the policy-based module 2120 is shown inFIG. 21 as being included in the logic of the fast path service.

At 2040, each entry that satisfies the set of policies is not placed ina pending queue 2130 with other pending entries that do not satisfy thefirst set of policies. Rather, the policy-based module 2120 placesentries that satisfy the first set of policies into a confirmed queue2140

At 2050, the entries in the confirmed queue 2140 are submitted to aconsensus protocol without performing validation and/or otherpre-consensus processes that ordinarily would be performed for pendingentries. Thus, the entries in buffer 2140 do not have pending status,but rather are treated as if they have already been validated,confirmed, and satisfied all of the other blockchain processes that maytake place before consensus of a pending entry. The reason that theentries in the confirmed queue may be treated in this manner is becausethey satisfy the first set of policies, which make validation,confirmation, etc., unnecessary. The entries in buffer 2140, therefore,are given higher priority status than the pending status of entries inpending queue 2130.

Because of their higher priority status, the entries in buffer 2140 aresubmitted to a consensus protocol 2150, which, for example, may involveproof-of-work, proof-of-state, or one or more other types of consensusprotocols. For at least those nodes in the blockchain network thathosted by (e.g., has a virtual node in) the Baas provider, consensus maybe performed based on internal communications that take place within thedomain of the Baas provider. For nodes that are not hosted by the Baasprovider, consensus may be performed based on communications through thenetwork 1110.

At 2060, once consensus is obtained for the entries subject to the fastpath service, the entries are included with other confirmed entries in anew block 2160 that is appended to the last previous block 2170 of theblockchain.

At 2070, if consensus is not obtained for one or more of the entriesoutput from buffer 2140, then a second set of policies (different fromthe first set of policies) may be used to determine whether the entriesthat did not receive consensus should remain in buffer 2140 or placed inthe pending queue 2130. Each of the first and second sets of policiesmay include one or more policies.

At 2080, if the entries that did not receive consensus satisfy thesecond set of policies, the entries may be returned to the fast pathservice 1450. The policy-based module 2120 in the fast path service maythen place the entries back in the confirmed queue 2140, where they willbe resubmitted for consensus.

At 2090, if the entries that did not receive consensus do not satisfythe second set of policies, then the consensus protocol 2150 returns theentries to the fast path service. The policy-based module 2120 in fastpath service then places the entries in pending queue 2130.

To further illustrate the fast path service of this embodiment, considerthe case where a transaction occurs among nodes in the blockchainnetwork. The first set of policies governing the operation of the fastpath service may include the following policy: is the transaction onlybetween or among virtual nodes on the same Baas server? If the answer isyes, then the set of applicable policies in this example is satisfiedand the fast path service places an entry corresponding to thetransaction into the confirmed queue 1240. This operation may beperformed since nodes on another server of the Baas provider are notinvolved in consensus for the entry corresponding to the transaction.

The entries in the confirmed queue 1240 are submitted for consensus. Ifconsensus is obtained, the entries receiving consensus are included in anew block to be appended to the blockchain. If consensus is notobtained, then the entries are returned to the Baas manager implementingthe fast path service, which manager may be separate from the blockchainsoftware of the virtual node or incorporated within that software.

At this point, the Baas manager determines whether the entries satisfy asecond set of policies. The second set of policies may include, forexample, whether the transaction is only between or among virtual nodesin different servers hosted by the Baas provider. If so, the Baasmanager may place the entries back into the confirmed queue forconsensus and subsequent inclusion in a new block. If not, the Baasmanager may place the entries in pending queue 2130.

If the transaction is not only between virtual nodes on the same Baasserver, then the fast path service implemented on the Baas managerplaces the entry into the pending queue 2130, so that it may be subjectto validation and other blockchain processes that take place beforeconsensus. Other types of policies that determine when entries ortransactions can be assumed to be confirmed may be applied in otherembodiments. Thus, the fast path service of this embodiment may be usedto streamline and improve the performance of the operation of a computeras it relates to transactions managed in a hosted environment by a Baasprovider.

In other embodiments, the set of policies governing operation of thefast path service 1450 may include whether the transaction only betweenor among virtual nodes hosted by the same Baas provider even when thevirtual nodes are on different servers of the provider. In this case,inter-server communications within the domain of the Baas provider maystill afford advantages of streamlined performance relative to operationand access of information by the virtual nodes and management of theblockchain. In one or more embodiments, the first and/or second set ofpolicies may consider, for example, the locations where the blockchainsoftware of a node is hosted, the size of message to be transferredbetween or among nodes or virtual nodes, and/or the number of agentsinvolved in a block chain transaction. In one embodiment, the consensusalgorithm may determine the policies.

In accordance with one or more other embodiments, a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium is provided which includes instructions thatcontrol logic to perform operations corresponding to any of the systemand method embodiments disclosed herein. As with other embodimentsdescribed herein, the logic may be implemented in hardware, software, orboth. Such logic may correspond, for example, to the processors,managers, controllers, fast path services, applications, software, andother processing and control features of the disclosed embodiments.Examples of such a computer-readable medium are shown in the drawingsreferenced herein including but not limited to the Baas manager and fastpath services shown in these drawings.

In accordance with one or more of the embodiments described herein, aBaas provider includes a manager than implements a fast path servicethat controls the transfer, storage, or other processing of informationrelative to one or more virtual nodes, and also generates of blocks andperforms other blockchain processing operations relative to thatinformation. By using such a Baas provider, peer-to-peer communicationamong different nodes may be avoided, thereby improving blockchainmanagement efficiency.

For example, in one or more embodiments, the fast path service may allowfor rapid transfer of large amounts of server data, and only a smallpointer may be provided to the different virtual nodes/block changesoftware systems in order to access the large data. Also, in one or moreembodiments, the fast-path service may be used as a fast-path interfaceto all of the nodes that are connected to it. The fast path service,therefore, may allow for a faster way to upload information to theserver from agents, as well as for the agents that are present locallyto share information about the content in the same server.

Additionally, in one or more embodiments, the blockchain software innodes that do not have a virtual node in the Baas provider may use thefast path service, such as Node 2 in FIG. 14.

In one embodiment, the system may use the blockchain protocol tocommunicate with any node that does not have updated blockchainsoftware, such as Node 4 in FIG. 14).

Also, in one or more embodiments, a set of policies may be used todetermine when to use a protocol (e.g., fast path protocol or standardblockchain protocol). These policies may consider, for example, thelocations where the node blockchain software is hosted, the size ofmessage to be transferred, and the number of agents in a block chaintransaction. In one embodiment, the consensus algorithm may determinethe policies. In accordance with one or more embodiments, the fast pathservice and/or the Baas manager may, additionally or in the alternative,by performed by the blockchain software of one or more virtual nodes ofthe Baas provider.

Although an exemplary embodiment of at least one of a system, method,and non-transitory computer readable medium has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the application is not limitedto the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions as set forth and defined by thefollowing claims. For example, the capabilities of the system of thevarious figures can be performed by one or more of the modules orcomponents described herein or in a distributed architecture and mayinclude a transmitter, receiver or pair of both. For example, all orpart of the functionality performed by the individual modules, may beperformed by one or more of these modules. Further, the functionalitydescribed herein may be performed at various times and in relation tovarious events, internal or external to the modules or components. Also,information sent between various modules can be sent between the modulesvia at least one of: a data network, the Internet, a voice network, anInternet Protocol network, a wireless device, a wired device and/or viaplurality of protocols. Also, messages sent or received by any of themodules may be sent or received directly and/or via one or more of theother modules.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a personal computer, a server, a console, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tablet computing device, a smartphoneor any other suitable computing device, or combination of devices.Presenting the above-described functions as being performed by a“system” is not intended to limit the scope of the present applicationin any way but is intended to provide one example of many embodiments.Indeed, methods, systems and apparatuses disclosed herein may beimplemented in localized and distributed forms consistent with computingtechnology.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether but may comprise disparate instructions stored in differentlocations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, random access memory (RAM), tape, or any othersuch medium used to store data.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

The methods, processes, computer-readable mediums, and/or operationsdescribed herein may be performed by code or instructions to be executedby a computer, processor, controller, or other signal processing device.The computer, processor, controller, or other signal processing devicemay be those described herein or one in addition to the elementsdescribed herein. Because the algorithms that form the basis of themethods (or operations of the computer, processor, controller, or othersignal processing device) are described in detail, the code orinstructions for implementing the operations of the method embodimentsmay transform the computer, processor, controller, or other signalprocessing device into a special-purpose processor for performing themethods described herein.

Also, as previously explained, another embodiment may include acomputer-readable medium, e.g., a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, for storing the code or instructions described above. Thecomputer-readable medium may be a volatile or non-volatile memory orother storage device, which may be removably or fixedly coupled to thecomputer, processor, controller, or other signal processing device whichis to execute the code or instructions for performing the methodembodiments herein.

The processors, controllers, managers, fast path service, devices,modules, or other processing features of the embodiments disclosedherein may be implemented in logic which, for example, may includehardware, software, or both. When implemented at least partially inhardware, the processors, controllers, managers, fast path servicedevices, modules, or other processing features may be, for example, anyone of a variety of integrated circuits including but not limited to anapplication-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gatearray, a combination of logic gates, a system-on-chip, a microprocessor,or another type of processing or control circuit.

When implemented in at least partially in software, the processors,controllers, managers, fast path service logic, devices, modules, orother processing features may include, for example, a memory or otherstorage device for storing code or instructions to be executed, forexample, by a computer, processor, microprocessor, controller, or othersignal processing device. The computer, processor, microprocessor,controller, or other signal processing device may be those describedherein or one in addition to the elements described herein. Because thealgorithms that form the basis of the methods (or operations of thecomputer, processor, microprocessor, controller, or other signalprocessing device) are described in detail, the code or instructions forimplementing the operations of the method embodiments may transform thecomputer, processor, controller, or other signal processing device intoa special-purpose processor for performing the methods described herein.The term “device unit data” may be or include card unique data or othertype of unique device-specific data.

It will be readily understood that the components of the application, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended tolimit the scope of the application as claimed but is merelyrepresentative of selected embodiments of the application.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theabove may be practiced with steps in a different order, and/or withhardware elements in configurations that are different than those whichare disclosed. Therefore, although the application has been describedbased upon these preferred embodiments, it would be apparent to those ofskill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternativeconstructions would be apparent.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the application is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when considered with a full range ofequivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices,software platforms etc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) provider,comprising: a first virtual node configured to receive data from ablockchain application in a node external to the BaaS provider; and afast path service provider configured to: identify that the datasatisfies a condition requiring a performance of a fast path serviceoperation, in response to the identification, obtain a pointer to thedata in a storage area when the first virtual node stores the data inthe storage area, send the pointer to the first virtual node to createan entry, and append a new blockchain block including the entry to ablockchain.
 2. The BaaS provider of claim 1, wherein the fast pathservice provider allows only a single transfer of data when the fastpath service provider appends the new blockchain block.
 3. The BaaSprovider of claim 1, wherein: the first virtual node comprisesblockchain software in communication with the blockchain application. 4.The BaaS provider of claim 1, wherein a second virtual node comprisesboth the blockchain application and the blockchain software, wherein theblockchain application of the second virtual node is to receive the datafrom a network coupled to the BaaS provider.
 5. The BaaS provider ofclaim 1, wherein the entry only includes the pointer.
 6. The BaaSprovider of claim 4, wherein the fast path service provider isconfigured to: provide the pointer to the second virtual node when theBaaS provider is queried by the second virtual node.
 7. The BaaSprovider of claim 3, wherein the blockchain software of the firstvirtual node executes operations for the blockchain application of thenode external to the BaaS provider.
 8. The BaaS provider of claim 1,wherein the condition is the data that exceeds a predetermined size. 9.A method, comprising: receiving, by a fast path service provider of ablockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) provider and via a first virtual node ofthe BaaS provider, data from a blockchain application in a node of anetwork external to the BaaS provider; identifying that the datasatisfies a condition requiring performing a fast path serviceoperation; in response to the identifying, obtaining, by the fast pathservice provider, a pointer to the data in a storage area when the firstvirtual node stores the data in the storage area; sending, by the fastpath service provider, the pointer to the first virtual node to createan entry; and appending, by the fast path service provider, a newblockchain including the entry to a blockchain.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the condition is the data exceeding a predetermined size. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the first virtual node comprisesblockchain software that communicates with the blockchain application.12. The method of claim 9, wherein a second virtual node comprises boththe blockchain application and the blockchain software, wherein theblockchain application of the second virtual node is to receive the datafrom the network.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the entry onlyincludes the pointer.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the appendingcomprises: allowing only a single transfer of data when the fast pathservice provider appends the new blockchain block.
 15. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the blockchain software of the first virtual nodeexecutes operations for the blockchain application of the node externalto the Baas provider.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring one or more instructions that when executed by a fast pathservice provider of a blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) provider configurethe fast path service provider to: receive, via a first virtual node ofthe BaaS provider, data from a blockchain application in a node of anetwork external to the BaaS provider; identify that the data satisfiesa condition requiring a performance of a fast path service operation; inresponse to the identification, obtain a pointer to the data in astorage area when the first virtual node stores the data in the storagearea; send the pointer to the first virtual node to create an entry; andappend a new blockchain block including the entry to a blockchain. 17.The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the condition is thedata exceeding a predetermined size.
 18. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the first virtual node comprises blockchain softwarein communication with the blockchain application.
 19. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein fast path service providerallows only a single transfer of data when the fast path serviceprovider appends the new blockchain block.
 20. The computer-readablemedium of claim 16, wherein the entry only includes the pointer.